The 30th meeting of the season which was held on Sunday afternoon at the Marsa Racetrack, heralded the start of the Johnnie Walker Cup championship for class Gold trotters on a short distance of 2140m. From the seven heats, 35 trotters made it to the semi-final stage. In the first class Gold heat there was a keen duel in the final metres between French newcomer Citan Du Sound (Redent Magro) and Atus Picken (Domenic Xerri). It was the former which took its first win in Malta. Charming Soldier (Paul Galea) dashed strongly from the outside during the last 400m of the second heat and managed to register its first success of the year. In the third class Gold heat, Kasper Trot (Rodney Gatt) took its third success in a row and its fourth win of the season after leading all the way. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta